Regional Adaptation to shocks

Key Points

•Challenges of Climate Change: questions of

managing uncertainty

•Risk management approach: questions of

strategies to manage risk

Catharina Williams

Risk, uncertainty, vulnerability, adaptability

• Attitudes to risk are based on values, culture and institutional/ individual long term goal (BRS 2006)

Uncertainty

Random event

Unknown Known probability Risk Vulnerability

Exposure to a threat

Adaptability/ resilience

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Inter-related research:

Risk, vulnerability and adaptability

• Regional and industrial base analysis of existing

climate stresses and natural disasters

provide basis for identifying future risks • Analysis of the past adaptation/experience in various

industries dealing with shocks

provide insights into dealing with future risks Graphics: Tourism QLD ©

Focus on Regions Series

BITRE works to understand regions: touches on vulnerability and adaptation from an economic perspective

Understanding Regional Adaptation

• E.g. Western Australia’s wheat-belt: Aggregate Real Taxable Income (ARTI) model for small regions shows impacts of shocks such as drought, flood and commodity price crashes

(BTRE 2005, Focus on Region 3)

• Adaptation varies depending on structure of region, its governance dynamics, human and social capital Graphics: Tourism QLD ©

Focus of presentations

• Structural adjustment in the Australian farm sector • Industry and Community Adaptation to Climate Change • Do communities recover well from disaster?

• • • References BITRE, 2005a, 2005b, 2004, 2003, Focus on Region (various reports) Bureau of Rural Science 2006, Climate Change Adaptation in Agriculture Devereux, S., 2001, Livelihood Insecurity and Social Protection, World Policy Review 2001,19 (4): 507-519 Graphics: Dept of Infrastructure ©